Some short introductory considerations to the activity of
Rosenfinger.com.
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Plato considered very bad the music of Euripides’ tragedies, because its
harmony stimulated the “irascible” (instinctual) part of the soul (aganaktetikòn psychès) and not the
rational one (phrònimon psychès).
With such an opinion, Plato was very lucky for having lived in the age of
Euripides, and not in our days.
If we search the web for sites related to classical Music, we find a lot
of them in the category “Entertainment”, and probably our website too. Apart
from the practical reasons that have to be considered in building web
directories, we think that the true high Culture, as its main aim, should not
“entertain” in the common sense of the word; it should be a mean of spiritual
evolution – certainly without boring anyone, on the contrary, as the best “fun”
for lofty educated spirits: therefore we could agree on this classification, if
different levels of entertainment were really and clearly defined.
Unfortunately, in the present-day entertainment almost the whole of its
forms appeals to that instinctual sphere. Not to think is easier than to think,
and for someone more convenient.
One can believe that the classical or learned or cultivated Music, like
other learned arts, should be a field preserved from this widespread
devastation of the human minds. Indeed the world of the true great Music seems
to be under siege.
An external siege, with a more and more increasing contamination of the
concert seasons and programmes with “non-learned music” – that is not Music,
it’s sound (or noise) making, a respectable activity much more profitable than
Music, but a different profession than Music. One says that it happens in order
to bring young people nearer to the Classics. Laughable lie: it happens,
obviously, as an attempt to increase incoming, often with ridiculous results
(if compared to the true professional money makers), or no results, except for
the fact that many young people are going to consider Mozart and Beethoven as
less skilled colleagues of the sound/noise makers who daily hammer their brain
and ears.
Moreover, an internal siege: who are generally the new stars in the
classical field? Those who have aptitudes of showmen or showgirls, performers
and composers with fool and humbug behaviours. A way to the success: first of
all get the right friends, with any mean. Then destroy some masterworks
performing them as strangely and crazily as possible; finally, why not, give a
touch of eccentricity to your life: you will be acclaimed as a genial
performer. Or compose some “easy-to-listen” pseudominimalist trash, maybe a
mediocre spot background; with the right reviews, you can get international
fame of renowned learned composer, being less than a bad jingle maker.
The success of these figures is often ephemeral, but not for that less
shameful. A large part of the public, and of the young public, what is
terrible, approves them with enthusiasm, and then assists with indifference to
their set, waiting for the next fairground freak. What the influent critics
say, that is uncritically accepted as law.
One can say that very often, in human history, the geniuses were less
appreciated than mediocre but “spectacular” personalities by their contemporary
public. It is true, but never this phenomenon had today’s dimensions, never a
so strong legitimation by all-powerful mass media – in the rare occasions in
which they remember that learned Music exists, and, under these conditions, it
would be better, if they never remember.
We have not the power to cause macroscopic, immediate and glaring
changes to this situation. We only hope to reach as many people as possible, to
let know our opinions, to give practical examples of what we mean by musical
art and creativity, and for musical culture, to give spaces, as we can, to
artists and authors that reflect this conception, and to perform, according to
our very limited means, a little educational task.
To help public and Music lovers to form independent opinions, to think
in autonomy, to understand the true qualities, to open eyes on what is
happening, to shout, like in the famous tale, with the childlike voice of
truth, “The king is naked!”, whenever a powerful boss comes with a naked
kinglet, and wants to fool people into believing that he’s wonderfully dressed
– and even better “He’s not a king at all!”. This is the only way to defeat
those, who with their economic, politic and client power are strangling Music
and the true musical talents.
The auroral rose-fingered gleam is faint, but it is the first step to
come to the noontide light.
the
cultural association - membership - CDs
- news
reviews
& writings - links / contacts